Running



As some of you know, I started running last May (2010) for the first time since junior high.  I hated running in junior high and didn't understand why they called our mile run the "Fun Run" because there was nothing fun about it.  I struggled to breath and had that bloody/metallic taste in the back of my throat.  My knees and ankles would knock each other and I'd end up with the weirdest bruises from those "fun runs."   As a stubborn thirteen year old, I vowed that I would never run again.  Well, the vow was broken several times, mostly because I had to take other physical education classes in high school and college and both required running.

 Last May I approached my husband and asked if he would run with me and help me run.  I had no idea what I was doing but my regular exercising wasn't helping me lose the extra pound here and there that I was gaining. And so the first time I ran he took me for a three mile run and we did it in less than 40 minutes.  Yep, he almost killed me the first time we ran.  He also figured out that I didn't know how to breath while running.  He taught me to regulate my breathing, breath in for three steps, breath out for three steps.  And that was the beginning of a new accomplishment for me.  Running is not easy for me, but it makes me feel so good that I get up and run.  And, I've been able to lose those pesky pounds that I was putting on and not able to get off.

So, running has taught me a couple things.  First, I can do hard things (and that is an awesome lesson).  Second, I am in control of myself and can make myself feel better or worse by the choices I make.  And finally, I like running and the feeling of accomplishment when I've completed my run.  (The above picture is one I took while running on the Jordan River Parkway Path.)